Hospitality: visits from old friends are the best!

We are so fortunate because we have dear friends who
don't mind driving hours (even in Friday traffic on I-95) to come visit us ...
sleep on our floor ...
hang out drinking good wine and smoking (or just smelling) good cigars ...
playing at the lake twice in one day ...
staying up late reading ...
cooking sausages over a barbeque while pancakes sizzle on the griddle ...
even sharing a good cry or two!

So, from Hilltop Farm,

thank God for old friends and their new babies (two since last we hung out together!) ...

Make new friends, but keep the old

one is silver and the other gold!

Hospitality: visit from a couple of wonderful ladies ...

... Dominican sisters in full regalia!

I'd LOVE to be able to say this basket is full of our bounty that we gave to our guest. No such luck as we haven't even planted our garden. No, the lovely sisters brought these sumptuous (and spicy!) fresh and ripe veggies to us. We had the squash and zucchini tonight stir-fried and the tomato with mozarella as a side. The orange pepper (below the bell pepper) is just called "HOT" ... we can't wait to try that one! There are also home-grown jalapenos and the yellow grape-like veggies are tomatoes that ripen yellow! YUMMY!

These are two of the sisters who have been praying for us for the past 14 months: praying that we would sell the house in Denver ... and praying that we would be able to buy a house here in Virginia ... and generally, well, just praying for us!

Only two of the Dominicans living in Northern Virginia were on the road today ... but they spent more than an hour chatting and borrowing books and teaching and learning from us all at once! They were on the way to their Motherhouse in Nashville -- a wonderful, blessed spot -- for their annual retreat and guess who is right on the route?

So we loaded them up with coffee, bagels/cream cheese, fresh cherries and books for the 10-hour drive across the mountains and into Tennessee. One of the books is a copy of my In His Image for another dear sister and fellow knitter, Sr. Thomas More -- altho I believe they'll delve into the prose on the road.

God bless these wonderful women and their cohorts ... and prayers for a safe and fruitful retreat and a safe drive back (with maybe another stop at Hilltop on their way back in?).

Hospitality: handsome man and friends abound

We have had such a lovely weekend and it's not even over yet!

On Friday, we finished off VBS at Church with a pot-luck supper and slide show (where BamBam featured prominently) and then a big soccer game while we waited for dh to return from the train station with one of my favorite men: my godson and rising FUS senior! He has been working in Maryland all summer on a Federal grant/internship and decided to come spend his second to last weekend with his favorite aunt named Mary!

We had a great visit last night and today. While he was here, we had one of dh's fellow-teachers and his family come for a visit to the lake and dinner here ... Godson joined us at the lake and he and Kotch did wonders with keeping the kids entertained while dh and I visited and barbequed up a pile of burgers, dogs and beef (can't really call it "steak"!) .

Here's a photo chronicle of the visit:

That would be our favorite godson swimming in the lake ... yes, he's outside the swimming rope, but he's big enough ...
Here's our guests' only daughter -- a 2 year old cutie that won the hearts of both Lego Maniac and BamBam!
Our guest's 4 year old son and BamBam having a blast while younger brother looks on ....
Bam-Bam swimming and enjoying the gorgeous afternoon ...
including the building of an amazing mountain, sand dam, and moat!

In the evening, dh made awesome barbeque and the kiddoes toasted marshmallows. It was the first time for our friends' children and our kids mentored theirs with the start of wonderful memories ... What a wonderful experience for us all ...

Unfortunately, said evening had to come to an end ... and said godson has to go back to Maryland tomorrow ... but we'll see all the guests again soon!

If you can spare a moment or two ... please send up a prayer for dear godson as he starts his senior year at Franciscan University and discerns God's will for him in this next stage of life!

Week in Review: July 12 - 18, 2009

This has been an amazing week here at the "farm" ....

On Sunday, July 12th -- Lego Maniac tried out for the Fall musical here at the Lake -- Mame! -- and he garnered the key role of Patrick, 10-year-old orphan adopted by his Auntie Mame.

So we spent much of the week ... pulling Lego Maniac off the roof (yes, he was THAT thrilled), hauling him to pre-rehearsals, and listening to the songs and dialogue of the script and getting him ready for his role as a wealthy 10-year-old orphan living with an eccentric (but very unschooly!) Aunt. The show will be NOV. 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14 & 15 -- so if anyone is interested in watching our little meadowlark sing his heart out, please let us know as we have room to house you!

We also found out this week that one of our favorite nieces is expecting, due on February 15th (altho hoping for a February 14th delivery) with their very first child. String Bean and I are already designing a knitted layette ... just waiting to hear on the gender!

On Thursday, July 16th -- we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel ... including Kotch making a batch of granita di cafe -- wow, this stuff is great. Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it (and it is definitely worth trying, especially in July when the temp reaches 95+ and you want coffee but not hot coffee!) :

Granita di Caffe (Coffee Ice) Italians are big celebrators of this feast so here's a traditional drink that is well worth making. This coffee ice is cool and refreshing for this summer feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
INGREDIENTS
· 3/4 cup sugar
· 2 cups warm water
· 1/2 cup lemon juice
· 2 cups strong coffee
DIRECTIONS
Stir the sugar into the warm water until it is melted and add the lemon juice, stirring for about five minutes. Add the coffee, strain, place in a freezing tray, and freeze, stirring frequently, until it becomes a mush.
Serve the ice slush in glasses, topping the glasses of ice with any of the following: whipped cream (add vanilla, sugar, almond extract, etc.) liqueurs (Amaretto, Kahlua, Baileys, etc.) chocolate curls or small pieces candied citrus peel or even just a twist of fresh lemon on top of the ice ... wow!

This is definitely worth making and eating ... and eating somemore!

On top of our wonderful week, on Friday String Bean and I stopped at the brand new knitting shop (not one mile from the house with a brand new coffee shop next store ... is God telling us we should be here or what?!) and we found out that the owner will be hosting a weekly knitting night starting soon. How cool is that? And the night she chose does NOT conflict with anything else we're doing (or planning) so it is now on the calendar as a sacrosanct day!

We've also been doing LOTS of work around the house -- weeding, cleaning, fixing and generally getting the house into great shape. This is definitely a house worth working on ... and living in ... for many years to come!

And with the lake to go walk to ... and play in ... every evening ... what's not to like?

So, when are y'all coming to visit?

Hospitality: visits from long-time friends

One of the great benefits to living in Virginia is our proximity to Washington, D.C. ... and therefore, visits from friends and family!

And we all love to welcome them to our new home, Hilltop Farm!

Yesterday, we had a visit from a friend and her family from Georgia. They'd spent the 4th in Washington and stopped on their way to NC beaches.

I've know this woman for 20+ years ... she was at both of my weddings, is the godmother to my oldest son, I used to feed she and her husband when they were dating and I hosted her wedding shower. I'm godmother to her oldest and we co-chaperoned trips to Walt Disneyworld when our godchildren were each 4 years old. I worried and prayed with her when she delivered her second daughter -- a 2-month early preemie who was so tiny, she was the size of a Hershey bar! I cried and laughed with her as we saw her father, a sufferer of Parkinson's, succumb to the disease.

That was four years ago ... and our paths have not crossed since the funeral. Until yesterday ... when she and her husband, my goddaughter (now 14!), her second daugher (8) and her youngest (5) stopped by for a few hours.

We so enjoyed seeing them again and can't wait for a chance for a longer visit .... after all, there was someone for everyone:

• dh and Vince hid out in the garage and then later at the beach ... talking guy talk
• goddaughter hung out with her "older and wiser cousin" and enjoyed talking with the grownups
• the younger girls -- who are NOT girly-girls -- had a blast running, tumbling, tagging and generally wreaking havoc with our younger three!

A successful visit all round ... come on back now, y'hear!

Welcome to our new home

Our very first visitors: dh's sister, BIL and niece. How we enjoyed the visit ... and hope they did too!

We have started a new month ... and a new chapter to our lives. We are living in a wonderful spot in a rural county in Virginia and we are loving being away from the noise, the traffic and the lights of the big city!

We so want to live a simpler life ... a life of embracing nature ... going on walks ... getting back to the basics ... instilling in our children a sense of wonder at God's creation and the gift of hospitality to all who venture to visit.

Please join us here ... let us know how you live a simpler, more faith-filled life as we share our journey toward a more basic existence while we love and learn and live, seeking God's will in our daily choices and lives.